On This Day

Gershom Mendes Seixas served as hazzan of New York’s Shearith Israel and became one of the earliest Jewish religious leaders born in British North America. During the Revolutionary War, he left British-occupied New York and assisted Jewish congregations elsewhere before returning. He preached in English, participated in civic ceremonies, opposed religious tests for public office, and served as a trustee of Columbia College. Seixas was not formally ordained as a rabbi, but his duties included worship, teaching, preaching, and communal representation. His career helped define an American form of Western Sephardic religious leadership.